How long does it take YOU to make a beat?

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JaxBeats

JaxBeats

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So how long does it take you?

I've heard of people making beats in 15 mins, as well as people taking weeks to complete one track.

I find myself being able to complete a song in at least a couple hours. A couple 10 mins breaks, but honestly if I kept working on a song for longer than that, I would find more wrong with it and drive myself crazy..

But I'm interested, how long does it take YOU?
 
It depends. Those who make beats in 15 min may just have the "foundation" down but not a final mix type of thing. I have ideas but once you lay that idea down it may not sound good so back to the drawing board. Jst because someone can do it in 15 min and you take 3 hours the final result is on how it sounds....

Me it takes a few hours again because if the sample sounds good but does not chop right or I get bored of it I will scratch it and start again....
 
It depends on the style or genre I am attempting to work with for that set project,
I can make a sampled track in under 30 minutes but original compositions take much longer because of sound changing and such, I am never satisfied with the sounds so I change them throughout the project
 
Interesting thread, well for me, I make all my music exclusively on iOS (iPad/iPhone) using Xewton Music Studio app. Starting out, it took me only 2 hours to make simple instrumentals, but as the year passed, I got better and out more work into my music, which costed more time...it went from 4hours to 6hours to up to 10.5hours per song.
 
It usually takes me a week to get a track where i want it. I could finish them much quicker, but i am a perfectionist.
 
Honestly it's funny you ask that because everyone will have different answers and perspective.
To be 100 with you guys, a lot of guys claiming they make beats don't make good or interesting beats.
Making beats and adds little 808s and arppegios and what not can take me 20 mins. Creativity is minimal, and a lot of people making beats in 15 mins are probably making trash.

Making a really good beat takes hours if not days and sometimes weeks.
If you're a real producer and have a vision it can take time do make it come to life. Anyone can grab random songs and make a "beat" but is the production good?

That's why so many people make beats but don't get anywhere because they think they're making bangers when they're really not.

Thinking of making a beat in 15 is insane to me.
Last night I was playing with samples over top of my composed beat, just adding vocals
, and I sat there for at least 2 hours just trying new things and listening.
Just chopping up samples can take hours.


If you make bangers in 15 mins, you should be signed. If you make what you think are bangers or good pieces in 15 mins and you're not getting recognized, I would sit down and look everything over again and look for rooms of improvement.

As future producers lets not be lazy and take time to build our craft.
It's good to be able to put thngs together quick to demonstrate you understand the foundations, but to make something you're proud of in 15 mins is highly unlikely =
 
It used to take me about 3 days to fully complete a beat. Day 1 the actual production, day 2 the mixing and day 3 the mastering.
I once went to work with someone and he told me he completes a beat in about 4 hours.
Well his beats aint fire so I could understand why he was able to complete 4 beats in a day. But since meeting him I try and complete
production and mixing in one day. I mix as I go along. Now takes me about between a day or 2 to complete one beat.
 
Of course that all sounds great (working on a beat for weeks to get it exactly the way you wanted) but I'm sorry nobody has time for that... As I work on a beat for hours I start to HATEEEEEEEE the track. So working on it for weeks would be insane for a perfectionist.

Especially when working with artist in the studio, they dont have time for that. So I would say just work HARD on the track the move on and try to improve on the next one
 
When you go in the studio with artists a lot of the time you already have a vision or started the beat or even finished beats and can add elements or change things up based on the artists. But rarely do they go int he studio blind and just make a beat with an artist in 3 hours and it's done.
Yea a lot of professional producers and artists don't have weeks to sit in the studio, that's why u get a heads up that they're interested in working you, also why a lot times a major artist will stay in the studio with a producer for 24 hrs straight no sleep, cause they don't have weeks...

---------- Post added at 03:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:37 PM ----------

But I do agree that the more you hear the beat you more you start to dislike it and get annoyed, but that's why I take a lot of breaks and move on to other stuff to come back to it. I never feel a beat is finished it is what it is, but completing beats in 2-3 hrs isn't something I'll ever be doing.
Except for flipping samples and adding drums, but good composition takes time
 
I usually take 10-15 minutes to come up with a foundation to inspire myself. The actual beat takes about 1-3 hours to add all the different instruments, effects, etc. After that its still not done but I render it so I can listen to it later and come back for the final mixdown, arrangement (verse, hook, transitions, drop outs) and drum groove adjustment. I like to experiment to find the perfect quantize, groove template, swing settings on each drum track individually until everything locks together.
 
however long it takes to get it to sound its best...i'm not down with that whole "i can finish a beat in an hour" etc...it just makes it sound like people are on a deadline or something and/or too lazy to perfect every instrument...
 
Depends...I have finished songs in 20 minutes and taken as long as one week. If I have an idea going into the studio its easier to turn songs around, but I am not feeling inspired it may take awhile (an hour) before I even find a shell of a song.
 
I guess that's what seperates the greats for the norm.
I was reading some articles with interviews with "40" and he was saying he spends hours sometimes, just layering different sounds and selecting sounds to use.

If I think about it though, yes I can make a beat in an hour. It would be a beat that I just make with no direction, it will sound good but no where close to good when everything is planned out, and planning takes time and making it come to life does too.
 
My beats might not be the greatest like the FP GURU's but they are my beats that I spend time on nonetheless to get the sound I want. My timing ranges from if im finishing the whole track from mixing final fx etc. but id say a good couple of hours maybe more sometimes even days don't judge me.
 
Most of the time it takes me around 5 or so hours to make a beat, another 2 to mix
 
It really depends. If I'm making a beat for someone else and they give me a reference, I can come up with a full beat within 15-30 minutes, depending on what I'm making, how many layers/tracks it needs, etc etc
 
On average from start to rendering it'll take me about a good 5 to 6 hours to complete a beat
 
It depends on some stuff:

- My mood (if I am happy, I produce faster).
- How my inspiration level is (low inspiration level = slow)
- If I have good samples etc.

Sometimes I can make a very powerful beat in 5 minutes, and sometimes it can take hours! :)
It's important not to give up because it sounds shit, just keep working with it until you make it the way you want it (:
 
Hmm my process is simple: Open up DAW and start do something.
Usually after 15-45 minutes I have main 8 bar loop(drums,bas, basic instruments).
From there I start building up my track. It can end up at 2-4 hrs.
So after that I have material that is ready to be mixed.

Often I save the project with only drums or bassline because I don't know what to do with it next.
I open it up after 1 or 2-3 weeks and start building it up.
 
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